The Mustard Seed moved in their first resident to a new non-profit housing project Monday.
The largest project of its kind in North America, the new building located adjacent to the shelter, will house low income residents and others that are coming from homeless shelters.
The tower features 224 suites, a community kitchen, a computer lab to enhance job skills and plenty of wide hallways to encourage socializing with neighbors.
The cost to rent a unit will vary depending on income; tenants will be charged anywhere from 550-880 dollars a month.
Dr. Lyall Thomson, CEO of The Mustard Seed, expects that the facility will be full within nine months.
“Right now we have about a 150 spoken for,” he says. “We’ll be bringing them in about six per week; it’s because we need them to get settled and acclimatized to their new facility.”
The affordable housing complex is part of the province’s ten year plan to end homelessness.
Despite the milestone, recent statistics show there are still thousands of people without a place to call home.
Thomson says that the progress is slow, but he expects the tower to contribute to efforts to end homelessness.
“The big factor here remember is that people are staying less time in a shelter than they were before, “says Thomson. “So it’s down to a week or two, compared to several weeks.”
Anyone interested in more information about housing at the tower can email pshousing@theseed.ca
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